


Bigger Slices

by bofoddity



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Introspection, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-18
Updated: 2014-05-18
Packaged: 2018-01-25 13:55:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 5,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1651055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bofoddity/pseuds/bofoddity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Collection of FFVII ficlets. Lots of old stuff, Aerith's name is spelled as Aeris in the oldest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Once Upon A Time

It had been so easy to dismiss as a dream, first. A dream about a beautiful fairy tale city that was made of crystal, with gentle, ethereal light washing over her as she knelt down on the altar, a prayer already easing off her tongue. But it was always that prayer that gave away the truth, that it wasn't just a dream, that one day she would know how to whisper words she had never heard before in her life by heart, that no matter how comforting the light brushing over her from above was, no comfort in the world would keep her death from hurting.

And she would never see Cloud's face again.

Of course, he wasn't the only one she would miss. How could he be, with so many new people in her life? She would miss Tifa and her silent compassion, the way she could smile warmly even when one of them said Cloud's name in wrong tone and they suddenly became uncomfortable with each other. She would miss Barret and his passionate love for the entire world, even with the anger and bitterness following him in an ugly trail. She would miss Nanaki who was mature beyond his age and Yuffie who never seemed to run out of spirit, and while there was always something off about Cait Sith and there were still two to join them (eight friends, the Planet had promised), she was sure she would miss them as well. But the most painful longing always came with Cloud, because she had never met him for real.

She knew that a man called Cloud Strife was the one she saw every day, cool and cocky and trying so hard to not care, but there was always something between them that kept her from really seeing him, a shroud she could never pull aside. Something that made Cloud look like he was awkward with his own body, like he didn't always speak with his own words, like another man's soul lingered in his beautiful blue eyes.

Real Cloud Strife was twisted and muted, and there was no other person in the world she would have liked to know better, and realizing that it would never happen simply hurt. Her eyes were teary when she finally opened them, the vision of her death still fresh and sharp in her mind as she sat up on the bed, glancing over to the other beds in the inn room. Yuffie had already left; probably off to enjoy Cosmo Canyon's spectacular sunrise, but Tifa was still sitting on the edge of her own bed, brushing her long hair and smiling to Aeris as their eyes met.

"You slept long," the other woman remarked mildly, lowering the brush down on the bed and proceeding to tie her hair in a loose ponytail, watching Aeris curiously. Tifa was at ease now, but even so there was warrior's vibrant strength to her every moment. Aeris tried to believe that it was only right that Tifa would live long after Aeris herself was gone. Tifa furrowed her brows at her absent expression, but her lips drew soon in a knowing little smile, and she asked with a playful glint to her eyes: "So, just how interesting was that dream?"

It had to be a miracle, but somehow she didn't break.

"Oh, I forgot it already," she lied, and allowed her hair to fall over her eyes.


	2. Naked

There was a faint scar crossing the small of Scarlet's back. She didn't react when Reeve brushed his fingertips tentatively against it, resting silently on top of him as he shifted in a more comfortable position on the couch, her eyes on his collarbones rather than on his face. He doubted that she was going to tell him the story behind the scar, if he bothered to ask, just as she wouldn't talk about anything else. Her silence was an odd, delicate thing, and Reeve wasn't sure just how he should deal with it.

Scarlet sat up at that moment, sliding off him and away from his touch, sitting on the edge of the couch. She still wore her dress, which was now crumpled around her waist, but her bra had somehow made it's way to the floor, and she didn't try to conceal herself when she reached down to pick discarded garment up. It wasn't about lack of modesty, but lack of shame, and Reeve envied her then. Many people trash-talked behind her back, and Reeve wasn't noble enough to not nod along to the gossip, but none of it ever seemed to effect Scarlet, while Reeve himself constantly worried about what others thought of him. Scarlet didn't even need to care, that's how confident she was with herself. With Reeve it took a toy cat and a Moogle to finally dare, and even so only in Gold Saucer, where the oddest things were welcomed.

It was so easy to convince himself that he hated her.

"So, you're moving out tomorrow?" Scarlet asked suddenly, pulling the shoulder straps of her dress back up. This was similar to the tone she usually used if she happened to talk to him, absently interested, but maybe it took her smirk to make that tone hard. He nodded when she glanced at him, blushing slightly when he realized that he hadn't zipped his fly back up yet, which brought familiar amusement on her face. Desperate to sound casual, grasping for his zipper, he mumbled:

"Yes. They had the most of the furniture ready, so there wasn't much to move there." Because this apartment had never felt like home, although it made a suitable symbol for the wealth and power that he had, so he wasn't really sad to leave it behind. And yet it was something like grief he felt now, trying to imagine life into the soft darkness around him and Scarlet.

Maybe it would have made a nice home for somebody else, but soon enough Sector 7 entirely wouldn't be home for anybody.

"It took you long enough. I never understood why you bothered with all that traveling, anyway." Scarlet looked at him, her eyes cool in a completely familiar, expected way. She hadn't been anything else but herself with him tonight, but somehow she had looked so bare in his eyes, her presence missing it's usual edges. But naturally it had been him who was truly naked.

And if that was compassion in her eyes, he might just have to go out and kill something.

Her skin felt cool against his as she touched her fingertips to his face, drawing his attention. He blinked, and nearly drew back in surprise, but somehow he managed to stay still. She grinned faintly, sliding one finger over his mouth as she murmured:

"Try to get through tomorrow."

Her exit, sharp click of her heels on the floor followed by the door whispering close, echoed in his head for a long time.


	3. Virtues of Patience

Cloud had never thought of himself as a patient person. As a child, good things had never come fast enough his way. As a teen he had hurried to Midgar as soon as possible, just to get a chance to reach for an impossible dream. His adulthood had been better, but not that much better. If anything, his fruitless chase of Sephiroth was proof of that.

However, there was one thing Cloud had always been willing to wait for, to the point the pass of time didn't even matter. His goal had been so far from his reach for a long time, but all he needed to do now was to extend his hand, lay it on smooth skin.

Tifa didn't stir, her body and mind both in ease around him. He had no idea if he were to ever feel that ease himself. It didn't seem possible for him to be around her and not feel like he was charged. Even touching her like this, although it was allowed to, made him feel restless, so he drew his hand away.

But Tifa was there. After years of longing, watching her as she went by, as she laughed, she sank into moody thoughts, after being watched by her with worry and love they had finally been able to stop walking past each other. They were still awkward, but they no longer confused each other. They smiled to each other. They looked each other in the eyes. Little by little, he was losing the feeling that she might be gone the next day.

Cloud would still have to get used to touching her, to actually having her there, with him, but the fears he had about her were almost gone now. His patience had given him heartache, but it had paid off. She was his now, just like he had always belonged to her.


	4. Last Lie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apocalypse scenario. AU.

The world after the end was dry. Tifa was delirious from thirst by the time she saw Cloud again.

His clothes were torn, and his legs shook with strain. But his grin was brighter than his eyes and it didn't belong to the Cloud she knew.

"I let him in."

His voice was still the same, soft and low. Reptilian, if she really listened. She kept telling herself that as he approached, and the sudden strength she saw in his walk had to be monstrous.

"He took the world-"

Tifa expected his voice to drop lower, and his hand to feel cool and leathery on her cheek. If she looked up she would see green.

"-and then I took him."

The world after the end was dry. Tifa was delirious from thirst, and when she looked up, she saw eyes like sky bared after the rain.


	5. Job Benefits

If he was honest with himself it wasn't the freedom in flying he loved. It was the control.

When people saw Cid, they saw his stubble and goggles, the blond hair that was more familiar with the breeze than the comb. They saw his blue coat and never knew that he could wear a lab coat just as easily, that he wouldn't even mind if he had to wear that all the time. Cid was a man who trusted logic instead of instinct and who used to be ashamed whenever emotion got better of him. But logical men adapted to their weaknesses, and in the end Cid had accepted his.

Logical men also understood things, and Cid understood ships. There was no part in Highwind he didn't know by heart, no function of which necessity he didn't understand. It had taken him time to get to know her as well as he did, but in the end he could lead her through anything and succeed. He knew how she would behave in a storm. He knew what would be too much for her. He knew how to quit in time.

When he flew, Cid knew everything would go as he wanted, and even when he was proved wrong, he was rarely shaken. All he needed to do was to be prepared. That wasn't enough with humans.


	6. Fools

Gold Saucer had been silent - having finally fallen asleep during the night - when Cloud had left his hotel. The world outside was quiet too, more so than it had been in a while. There was almost something mocking about it.

"Bad night, wasn't it?"

He turned around to see Tifa give him a tired grin. Her clothes were crumpled, like she had slept in them. Cloud wondered if she had made the mistake of not taking her equipment on before falling on bed, but she was probably smarter than that.

"Yeah." His skin itched from where his suspenders had pressed marks during his sleep, but he ignored it. "I'm not going to keep it secret. What Cait did."

Tifa nodded. "That's good."

"The rest of us us have been sharing our secrets, so it's only fair."

There was his bait. Cloud waited.

Tifa nodded again and looked away, watching as other people began to flood in and out of Gold Saucer. It was only a matter of time until the rest of their group showed up too; none of them were relaxed enough to sleep in late, and Aerith would be dying to know how their date had gone.

That was probably what Tifa was counting on, now that he thought of it. She had ignored his bait and knew he wouldn't outright ask, so all she needed to was to wait for their moment alone to end before it grew too big. There would be yet another unsaid thing standing between them.

But if he spoke up, she would have to turn around.

What can't you tell me?

She watched the Gold Saucer, he was silent. The world around them was still calmer than it had right to be, obviously laughing at them.


	7. The Friendly Touch

It always amazed her how easy it was for Aerith to touch others. Whether it was patting Nanaki's nose, smacking Barret on the shoulder (for which she always had to rise on her toes, which amused everybody) or grabbing Cloud from the elbow, it was as natural for her as breathing. The touch wasn't always returned, but it was never rejected. Sometimes it hurt to see Cloud smile at it.

Most of the time it was another thing that hurt her. Touch was like an instinct for Aerith, but she almost never touched Tifa.

Tifa didn't understand why. Aside from Cloud, it was her company that Aerith sought out whenever they had time to be like ordinary people. They laughed at the same things. They dreamed of a future with green land and without Shin-Ra. Sometimes Aerith touched her hand, but it never lasted long.

After some time, it stopped hurting her and instead just confused her, and she decided that the most likely reason was that Aerith found her intimidating. So she asked Aerith about it.

"There's nothing wrong with you!" Aerith insisted. "I'm.. I'm just afraid I'll make you uncomfortable."

Aerith avoided her eyes, which confused her further. Then she did something about it.

"Don't be silly." She extended her arms out, and felt weird for a moment. The person she hugged the most was Barret, and she wondered how Aerith would feel like in comparison. She shrugged the feeling off and smiled. "Come on. Let's try it."

To her surprise, Aerith didn't try to excuse herself, despite the tension in her shoulders. Instead she walked up to Tifa and wrapped her arms around her, settling against her as Tifa closed her in an embrace. After a while, she discovered some things.

Aerith was tiny compared to Barret. Her body was stronger than you could tell by looking at her. It tickled when she pressed her nose into Tifa's hair.

"I didn't mean," Aerith started, pulling away. She was blushing, and as soon as Tifa understood why, her cheeks followed the lead.


	8. Match Making

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU where Tifa is in Cloud's place.

When he introduced Tifa to Sephiroth, he didn't think much of it. She wanted to meet her idol once, and one meeting was all he knew Sephiroth would agree to, so Zack arranged it and then put it out of his mind. Afterward Tifa was thoughtful, but smiled and said yes when he asked her if everything was okay. So he hadn't thought of it anymore.

Zack didn't start thinking when Tifa cropped her hair so short it was barely there, despite the way she had preferred to keep her hair as long as it was acceptable.He got worried when she started to get thinner, losing the shapes that had made her a target for a lot of unwanted attention, but when she stopped and still looked healthy, he forgot about it again. Being a SOLDIER meant you had no time to think of your looks, after all. And she still smiled. That had to mean she was all right.

So when he finally walks in on her and Sephiroth, it nearly knocks him out.

Wearing a tux with her breasts strapped away, Tifa almost looks like a boy ("He likes it when I cross-dress," she will tell him). With her pants pulled down, Zack can tell he's not. Sephiroth smiles to him over her shoulder.

"I'm so glad you introduced us."

Later, he will wonder what made him obey when Sephiroth told him to come closer.


	9. Practice Makes a Man

Cloud had recently discovered whistling.

For years, he had assumed it was something he simply didn't have the skill for. (Zack, of course, had known how, but as carefully as Cloud had crafted his delusion, some things were beyond imitation.) The few times he managed one were moments of amazement, and that irritated him. Cloud may not have been normal, but surely whistling was something he could handle.

So Cloud started practicing. First, he was pathetic. Later, the wheeze began to turn into a sound.

He couldn't whistle entire songs yet, but he did manage short tunes, and managed them often. He thought his development was invisible, first, but then Tifa confirmed the opposite.

"I liked you better when you brooded."

Tifa turned to search her migraine pills, and Cloud couldn't stop grinning. There was nothing like success.


	10. The Next Level

Barret never thought of Tifa as his daughter. When they first met, Tifa was a girl next door in his eyes, with a weight on her shoulders that shouldn't have been hers to carry in many years. Barret felt for her, and thought of her as a kid in need of guidance. It never stopped surprising him how fast she became more.

They grew older, and sometimes Tifa seemed to leave him behind. Barret decided that the increasing aches in his body were first steps to graying, so he was still in the lead. Meanwhile Tifa was living the best years of her life, heavy with memories, but not sour. The worst thing that could happen to her was to get stuck with a grumpy bastard like Barret.

(With him or Cloud, that was. Barret may have liked the guy, but Cloud just wasn't well.)

They grew older still, and Barret suddenly found himself without an excuse. Meteor had come up and down and he was still alive, his conscience lighter, and happiness had become a concrete chance. So when he got the courage to ask Tifa out, there was one more thing to lean on. Barret had never thought of Tifa as his daughter, but that didn't mean she hadn't seen him as a father. Or as a creep next door.

Then she said yes.


	11. Identity

"Were you in SOLDIER?" they asked, and Cloud always wanted to say yes.

Aloud, saying no had become easier over time. He still paused before replying, but one could barely tell that these days. His friends were happy for him. Cloud himself was annoyed.

"SOLDIER, First Class," he said to himself and it felt right. Sometimes he stood in front of a mirror for that, looking into his own eyes. "SOLDIER, First Class." He was always so sincere.

"Cloud Strife, SOLDIER First Class." A sneer, then the unpleasant part. "Zack Fair, SOLDIER First Class."

He knew better now, but the first words always felt more true.

Cloud was annoyed, but felt no guilt. There was a hole in his past and he would never find enough memories to fill it with it; a fake life was no different from any other stuffing he could have used. His strength and the glow in his eyes were real enough. It was a lie, but he had earned it.

"Were you in SOLDIER?" they asked, and whenever nobody was around, Cloud always said yes.


	12. Leaving a Trace

In the morning, Aerith went to look at the gondola for the last time.

Gold Saucer was a plain sight in daylight, stripped from magic; she could see the dirt and the dust on the gondola cars when she had seen none last night. She reached out to touch the car nearest to her, pressing her hand down until it left a print.

"That way you'll be remembered forever?"

Cloud's voice was still rough with sleep, but his eyes were alert when Aerith turned to look at him. He cracked her a tired smile. "They'll wash those eventually, you know."

Aerith withdrew her hand, staring at the dirt caught on her palm. "Everything washes away."

She didn't feel as gloomy as she sounded, but Cloud's smile faded anyway. He walked to her after a moment of silence, and as he got nearer Aerith got tense for other reasons.

"Hey, no deep moods." His smile was warmer this time, inviting a smile to Aerith's face as well. She held her breath when his hand neared her hair, and let it go when he patted her on the shoulder instead. "We have a job to do," he said, stepping away.

Aerith found herself leaning to Cloud's distancing body warmth, but straightened up. "Right."

"You can come back to leave another hand-print later."

Cloud looked away before saw Aerith's expression change, allowing her to glance briefly back at the gondola car.

"Maybe you can leave yours."

She didn't say that aloud.


	13. Alliance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU where Cloud didn't return to Nibelheim.

When a group of SOLDIERs visit Nibelheim, one of them comes to Tifa. The SOLDIER isn't Cloud, but he turns out to be almost as good.

"Cloud and I are pals," Zack Fair says, and smiles to her in a way that probably gives grandmothers urges to pinch his cheeks. Both pairs. "He's on another mission right now, but he's been thinking about you. He's sorry he didn't make it."

Tifa nods as if she understands, and waits long enough that Zack's relief shows on the outside. Then she asks:

"If he misses me so much, then why doesn't he ever answer my letters?"

Zack's face falls, and Tifa can see how he starts searching for excuses. She looks away from him and bites her lip. "Does he not like me?"

"Not at all!" Zack shouts, and pauses when he realizes his objection sounds more like a confirmation. Tifa can't help but find that a little funny, and she looks up at him just in time for his explanation: "He just didn't become a SOLDIER as fast as he wanted to. He thinks you're going to eat him for that or something."

Tifa snorts with laughter. "He thinks I'm going to eat him?"

"Yeah." Zack glances down at Tifa's hands. "Or maybe it was 'eat' with a 'b'. I heard you do martial arts."

"Not when he was here," Tifa points out, and feels disappointed. It doesn't sound like Cloud thinks much of her. She should try to do something about it. "What do you think he would do if I visited him?"

"Run away." Zack's tone doesn't even leave any room for second-guessing. Tifa hesitates before charging on with her next suggestion: "Do you think you could soften him up?"

Zack frowns in thought, which Tifa takes as a positive sign. Her hope is rewarded when Zack says: "People say I can talk them into doing stuff. I think it's possible."

"Then could you?" Tifa smiles to him, and hopes it's a smile that makes boys say 'how high?' when she asks them to jump. When Zack looks like Tifa may be able to make him bounce all the way to the sky, she feels victorious, and adds: "I'll write to you."

"I have a girlfriend," Zack whispers, suddenly breathless.

Tifa raises her eyebrow, watching Zack's cheeks go red. She lets him off the hook fast this time: "I'll write to you as a female friend." She offers him her hand. "That sound good?"

"It sure does," Zack says, and grins wide as he takes her hand.

It's not the stuff of legends, but that's how they become friends.


	14. Independence Day

For Sephiroth, joining SOLDIER is a chance to be more.

Before that he is an unwanted child in Hojo's care, spending most of his time with various tutors and assistants or on his own. The tutors and the assistants are mostly decent, but none of them are ever warm. Unless there's a check-up or an experiment Sephiroth needs to go through, Hojo pretends he doesn't exist at all.

"What do you want?" is his usual greeting if Sephiroth happens to visit his labs, and often Sephiroth does that just to irritate the old man. He's starting to accept that dull routine as the only interesting thing in his life when President Shinra comes to his rescue.

"You'll always have a home at Shinra Inc.," the President finishes his marketing speech of the SOLDIER program, smiling to him as warmly as an unfeeling man can. Sephiroth doesn't buy either that or his words, but he takes his chance.

Career as a SOLDIER comes with a leash of its own, but Sephiroth prefers it to the one that ties him to Hojo. The new leash lets him move around the world, though only so that he can kill; he doesn't care enough to mind. He gets to experience the brotherhood that is born in war and for a while that's good enough. In a war it doesn't matter that he doesn't look or act like the others, and others keeping their distance to him is only acceptable. He's a hero and an idol, revered but never approached. Everybody else is small but him.

For a while, that's good enough. Then it isn't.

Sephiroth has no idea why before Nibelheim.

Before Nibelheim, Jenova is yet another why in his life, despite being the only one with a clear answer; she is his mother and she is dead. She left him to Hojo and made him for Shinra and he should hate her for that, but he doesn't feel anything. Jenova has no importance and no meaning, just like the rest of his life, and the only thing that makes Jenova different is that he can't even bother to be disappointed about her.

Before Nibelheim, Jenova is just a name.

Now, she's everything.

In Nibelheim, the leashes burn, and all his questions why finally have an answer.


	15. Untitled Tifa/Aerith

"I've never been kissed."

If Tifa were to say that aloud, it would be a simple statement. Kissing simply isn't something she's had an opportunity to do, not in Nibelheim or anywhere else. Others would be surprised, if they cared that much, but they'd get over it.

"Would you want to change that?"

Except for Aerith, maybe. Tifa could imagine the other woman slinking close to her, like the very image of a cartoon seductress, and only when her breath was mingling with Tifa's own would Tifa realize that the ongoing seduction was a very real one.

"Maybe," Tifa would reply, as if she wasn't sure. But she would reach out for Aerith's face, bring her hand as close as she could without touching, and Aerith would close her eyes. They would never be sure which one would kiss the other first, but Tifa liked to think that it would be her.

It would never happen of course. They had a world to save and things more important than kissing to think about, and Tifa wouldn't bring anything like that up unless she was asked about it. But she liked thinking up different scenarios, sometimes with Cloud or Barret but most of all with Aerith, who was exciting and different. Aerith who loved adventure and new things and who talked about wanting to experience everything that the world had to offer, and every now and then her voice got soft and once she told Tifa that she'd love to do all that with a friend. Tifa had assumed that Aerith meant Cloud, and maybe she did. But she knew the look in Aerith's eyes had been meant for her.

Years had passed since Nibelheim's burning and Tifa still missed home, but she wanted to see what the world had to give too, and have a friend with her when she did that. No one had ever asked if she had ever been kissed, but maybe she would bring that up on her own, and see what happened.


	16. Untitled Tifa POV

"I've missed you," Tifa said.

Except she didn't say a thing. Not because it wouldn't have been true; on the contrary, she wanted nothing more than to touch him, feel his shoulder or hair to know that he was really there, just as soft and coarse as he looked. She had missed him so much that it felt unreal at times, to the point she had wondered if there even was any Cloud.

But there he was, sitting in her bar and drinking something - she didn't even remember what - that she had made for him, and his voice was strangely loud and clashed in her ears and she couldn't believe how different he looked from the boy she knew as a child. He was angles and hardness, twisted familiar things. He was like he had come from another world entirely.

He was Cloud and Tifa had missed him, but for some reason, this wasn't a reunion.


	17. Untitled Hojo POV

Nobody had interest in Hojo's work. That was the message sent loud and clear by the lack of guards near the laboratories and the little resources given to him. Hojo wanted that to change.

"Very well," the President replied to his request to get guards for the laboratories, and Hojo had taken well-deserved pleasure in getting his needs recognized. He remembered too late that the only needs the President cared about were his own, and one of them was easiest possible solutions.

When the one guard that Hojo had been granted finally volunteered for the new duty and arrived to the labs, Hojo had already ceased to care. He looked at the short, lanky young man peering into his office and noted with slight appreciation that the boy at least seemed to be interested in the job, his helmet-covered head moving as he looked around. One cough-clearing from Hojo was enough to bring him to attention and he stepped into the office and tossed his hand up into a salute.

"Cloud Strife ready to duty, Sir," the guard said, with the bright voice of someone who still had faith in things. Oh, how soon that was going to change.


	18. Untitled Tifa POV II

The nights are too long.

It's too dark and quiet and there is too much time, and Tifa can't stop thinking. Cloud too is quiet, except for his breathing although Tifa can barely hear it unless she concentrates. When she does it's even and steady, and that means that they have won. They have survived the day and can move onto the next one, and things might get better.

But now it's night and Tifa can't help but think: what if they don't?

Somewhere, AVALANCHE is fighting the same fight that she is. They have been winning so far, surviving to another day, and maybe they are hearing new things to get hopeful about, maybe they even get to hold concrete proofs of hope in their hands. But they'll have to go to sleep too, and sometimes they will think before sleeping. Ask themselves if anything they do is worth anything.

Sometimes, they must wonder if it's time to give up.

Tifa wonders, and sleeps, wakes up to new day. She doesn't know what answers the others have found, but when the next night comes, she knows what she did.


	19. Untitled Cloud stream-of-conscious

His life has become fuzzy.

He knows where he is. He is in a laboratory, as a prisoner. They are doing things to him. It's affecting him. Zack is somewhere. Reality is hard to hold on to.

He hallucinates a lot. He hallucinates of a woman, whispering things to him.

"My child." Her fingers are impossibly long, reaching everywhere, her thumbs extending over his eyes. "I love you. I don't want you to suffer. You must help your brother."

She talks longer than that, but those are all that he hears, over and over again. You are suffering. Let us take the pain away.

Your brother wants to be inside you.

"I have no brother," he tells himself, but without voice and it's so hard. All thinking is, although he keeps trying. Zack speaks to him sometimes and no matter how much he doubts at times, Zack is real. The woman tries to convince him otherwise.

"You must not trust them. You must not trust anyone. They are traitors. They are enemies. They hurt your brother. They must be destroyed."

"I have no brother," he says to her, but it's getting harder. Everything is fuzzy but she is solid and warm, holding him to her bosom with strong arms. She's almost real.

"I love you."

It's getting harder not to believe her.

"I'm your mother."

He holds on, barely.

"You're not."

He holds on.


	20. Untitled Nanaki POV

"It will take centuries until Midgar heals."

Nanaki doesn't remember who said that. However, he remembers doubting it; as much as Junon stank and Nibelheim was full of horrors, nothing could ever rival Midgar in his nose when it came to death. He had thought it a pity because so many people loved Midgar, as ugly and ruined as it was. He had wished the words would come true.

"Come," he says to his grand-children now, gently; it's been a long trip and they must be tired. But when he looks at them they are wide awake with curiosity and interest and start running before Nanaki does, towards the cliff that is their end goal.

Nanaki will die soon and his body knows it, but soon he is leading his children again, leaping to a stone and then to another until there is nothing more to climb, and that's where he takes a breath. He closes his eyes, remembering when he was young and scared and sure that he was being taken to the netherworld, for not even a wasteland was this full of despair.

He takes a breath, and it's fresh like life.

"Just five," he says as he opens his eyes, looking down at the city that used to be a prison. He tosses his head back and roars with joy, with freedom and relief, and peace he didn't know he needed.

Five centuries and the Planet is at peace again. They have won.


End file.
